Reception clear for 85 years

WSBT-AM will celebrate its anniversary at Palais Royale

WSBT-AM will celebrate its anniversary at Palais Royale

April 22, 2007|HOWARD DUKES Tribune Staff Writer

If today's radio listeners could go back in time, they probably wouldn't recognize the WSBT radio station that broadcast its first program 85 years ago this month. To start with, the station's call letters would certainly throw them off, program manager Bob Montgomery says. Back in those days, the station's call letters were WGAZ, which stood for "World's Greatest Automotive Zone." The letters were a homage to the South Bend-based Studebaker Corp. That first broadcast wasn't very long, either, Montgomery says. If the experiment hadn't been successful, WSBT-AM (960), which is owned by The Tribune's parent company, Schurz Communications Inc., might not be one of the nation's oldest radio stations, and the man behind that first broadcast might have been out of a job. "It was a 10-minute music program," Montgomery says. It wasn't long, but it made WSBT one of the first radio stations in the country. Jon "JT" Thompson, host of WSBT's popular "JT in the Morning" program, says KDKA in Pittsburgh, the nation's first radio station, went on the air in November 1921 -- just five months before WSBT's first broadcast. At the time, Tribune reporter Eugene Leuchtman was the driving force behind the paper's foray into broadcasting. Leuchtman spent more time tinkering with his transmitter than writing his stories, which upset city editor Leslie Morehouse. Morehouse was prepared to reprimand Leuchtman when he found the reporter standing over the transmitter, which was in the Tribune's third-floor ballroom. Leuchtman convinced Morehouse to help him, instead. Leuchtman ran to a store on Western Avenue (then called Division Street), where he'd placed a receiver. Morehouse remained at The Tribune. Ten minutes after Leuchtman left, Morehouse pulled several switches. He then said these words into a microphone: "This is WGAZ, The South Bend Tribune in South Bend, Indiana, placing a test program on the air. Our first number is Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C Sharp minor. " Ten minutes. That's not much longer than an hourly news update these days. On Monday, WSBT will celebrate the 85th anniversary of that first broadcast with a special "JT in the Morning" show broadcast from the Palais Royale. Such dignitaries as South Bend Mayor Stephen J. Luecke and U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Granger, are among the scheduled guests for the breakfast and broadcast. The anniversary show also will include clips of old WSBT broadcasts and appearances by current and former WSBT employees and on-air personalities, Montgomery says. Thompson says the event honors WSBT's longevity and the station's ability to adjust with the times. When he arrived in South Bend from Hershey, Pa., in 1976, Thompson says, WSBT played music, but AM radio stations that played music realized they couldn't compete with the clearer FM stations. "We've been able to change with the times," Thompson says about the station's switch to a news and talk format. That switch also gave local listeners a voice in local and national affairs through the news and talk programming WSBT carries, Thompson says. "That's important for any city to have," he says. Leuchtman only could have hoped that his experiment would make such a lasting impact. In the beginning, the station aired sporadically, when programming and staff were available, Montgomery says. The transmissions, however, could be heard for hundreds of miles and were picked up by people who had receivers that many of them had made out of spare parts. Leuchtman told his bosses that people hundreds of miles away from South Bend would hear the signal. And they would respond. That is exactly what happened, and it didn't take long for The Tribune's management to grasp the new technology's potential, Montgomery says, just as the radio stations, WSBT-TV and the newspaper now work together on the Internet under the '24/7 News" banner. The station's first formal broadcast took place on July 3, 1922. The station made the first broadcast of a University of Notre Dame football game later that year, "a 27-0 romp over Indiana University." The call letters were changed to WSBT in 1925, and the station became a CBS affiliate in 1932. In 1943, it began experimental FM broadcasts, and on Aug. 12, 1962, WSBT's FM arm, WNSN, began broadcasting from its current 101.5 frequency. WSBT's television station went on the air in 1952, and the radio and TV networks moved to their current location at Lafayette and Jefferson boulevards in 1956. Both will relocate to Mishawaka's Edison Lakes in summer 2008. Becoming a network affiliate, Montgomery says, increased the variety of programming available. "It just made what's also important today available to listeners -- quality content," he says. Montgomery says the investment in radio during those early days reflects a willingness to adapt. "What's now known as Schurz Communications," he says, "was always very forward thinking in embracing new technology." Staff writer Howard Dukes: hdukes@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6369